*Hello John:* This is great info! To update everyone here - after speaking with several leaders in this field - we've decide to stay away from ESXi.
Back to the drawing board. *Best, Reza. * On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 10:51 AM, John Lange <[email protected]> wrote: > This discussion really boils down to the difference between > full-virtualization and para-virtualization. > > Do a google search for "full virtualization vs. paravirtualization". > > One of the things you will learn is that VMWare is full virtualization > and Xen is para-virtualization. > > Para virtualization exposes parts of the underlying hardware allowing > the guest OS direct access to some things, chief among them hardware > clocks and timing which is absolutely critical to Asterisk. > > Asterisk running on a fully virtualized guest OS is unlikely to run > properly because the clock bounces all over the place. Even just keeping > the proper date and time is problematic on these systems which is why > you are supposed to install "VMWare tools" which helps mitigate these > issues. > > On the other hand, my understanding is that Asterisk on Xen runs great. > I believe there is even a commercial product for hosted PBXes that is > based on this though the name escapes me at the moment. > > And there Xen kernel modules for Digium cards meaning you install the > Digium cards in the Xen box and then all the virtual machines can access > them just as if they were installed on the local system. > > A couple more things to keep in mind: > > - there is a massive difference between virtualization installed on top > of an existing OS (such as VirtualBox, Microsoft Virtualization and all > the "free" VMWare products), and "bare metal" virtualization like ESX > and Xen. Bare metal is the only way to go for serious virtualization. > > - There are now specially tuned installs of some OSes designed for > virtualization. For example, SUSE has an option for "this is a > virtualized system" which installs all the specially tuned kernel > options which makes a major performance difference. > > - And, everything I've said above, while still true, is a bit outdated. > VMWare has recently gotten into the para virtualization game and there > has been _tons_ of work done on the linux kernel in the last couple > years to improve the performance of full and para virtulized systems. > > -- > John Lange > http://www.johnlange.ca > > On Thu, 2010-03-04 at 00:49 -0500, Reza - Asterisk Consultant wrote: > > *Hey guys!* > > > > Thanks for all your responses. We've played heavily with ESXi -- but > > before getting an Asterisk server with ESXi, I'm not ready to take a > blind > > leap of faith here without bench marks. I don't mind swimming in a cold > > water if I know there are others with me :). But then again if there are > > other options besides ESXi catered for Asterisk, then I'd liketo > investigate > > it. > > > > During peak hours - we can hit 70+ simultaneous calls on ONE server > alone. > > We've also been receiving lots of requests for Virtual Asterisk Hosting > > needs (plain vanilla Asterisk & FreePBX type). So I need to keep an open > > mind with Virtualization options for prospects & clients. > > > > *Robert: *If you are using software G729 transcoding - then forget > ESXi. > > If you are doing any form of transcoding, then forget ESXi. If you are > > doing call recordings & some sort of transcoding, forget ESXi. If you > are > > running Asterisk on top of other VM's on the same ESX(i), that is running > > Windows Servers, Application servers and ESX(i) - then forget it. > > > > IF you **must** use PRIs in a virtual environment, then use foneBRIDGE ( > > http://www.red-fone.com/) and make sure there is no transcoding going > on. > > > > > > *Hey Dave: *Been a LONG while! As per XEN, I've never used it - but > I've > > also heavily used Virtual Box. Though I love Sun's Virtual Box compared > to > > VMWare Workstation - don't even think of deploying Asterisk on VirtualBox > on > > a production platform. Trust me, as you always have :). > > > > *Cheers! > > Reza.* > > > > -- > > Toronto based VoIP / Asterisk Trainer, > > I.T. Consultant and Hosted PBX Solutions Provider. > > +1-647-476-2067. > > http://www.linkedin.com/in/seminar > > > > > > On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 9:57 PM, Robert Brock <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > Odd, I had a lot of problems with ESXi. > > > > > > If I setup the asterisk server with just a firewall and asterisk server > > > everything ran fine, Isolated nics for each app and network (internal, > DMZ > > > and external), worked fine, but as soon as you load more VM machines > things > > > started to go sideways. Call quality of recordings went weird, G729 > > > connections started to act like there was a lot of jitter on the line. > > > > > > I tried loading a test server on our ESX cluster and it was much much > worse > > > (60+ VM's). > > > > > > Also with ESXi you can't add PRI/PSTN cards, everything must be > external. > > > > > > I couldn't see much point in running a production asterisk server as > and VM > > > on ESX - Handy for testing but not for production. > > > > > > I have also tried using ESX as a media server for Video and once more > than > > > 6 Vm were running on the ESX cluster video would get choppy for 1080P > > > streams, it's like the network resource pools are being shared, even > when > > > nics are isolated to the specific VM. > > > > > > Robert Brock > > > Telecom Administrator, MKS Inc., www.mks.com > > > Waterloo, ON, Canada > > > Tel: 519-883-3243 or 800-265-2797 x3243 > > > Fax: 519-884-8861 > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Dave Donovan [mailto:[email protected]] > > > Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 9:27 PM > > > To: Asterisk Users Group > > > Subject: Re: [on-asterisk] VM ESXi on Asterisk Production Platforms. > > > > > > On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 3:34 AM, Reza - Asterisk Consultant > > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Has anyone in here worked hands on with ESXi and Asterisk? Would > like > > > to > > > > hear your input and benchmarks, along with recommendations of other > > > > alternatives that you may have placed at your data centre running > > > Asterisk. > > > > > > > > Do you prefer ESXi or other alternatives? If alternatives, then > why? > > > > > > Reza, > > > > > > This is a timely post. We just deployed Asterisk (PBX in a Flash) on > > > our ESX 3.5 platform at our Mississauga office. ESXi is just a > > > skinnier version of ESX. > > > > > > It's a bit early to say much about long-term stability, but we've had > > > no problems with Asterisk since deployment. Fingers-crossed. > > > > > > During testing, we found we had choppy/poor quality audio on > > > playback() operations like autoattendant. It wasn't as bad with > > > voicemail messages so we installed native sounds, hoping that avoiding > > > GSM-ULAW transcoding would fix it. It was improved but not great. We > > > applie a kernel patch to resolve timing issues that caused the choppy > > > audio. Now it's smooth as silk. > > > > > > Info on that patch can be found here: http://pbxinaflash.com/vm/ > > > > > > We ran the code exactly as it appears near the bottom of the page. > > > The only other thing we had to do was edit grub.conf to make the new > > > kernel the default one. > > > > > > I imagine that you're looking at a hosted type of application so, > > > unfortunately, I can't tell you much about scaling since we're running > > > only one Asterisk instance and it's the only thing in the high > > > priority resource pool. It doesn't have to contend with any > > > resource-intensive guests on the same machine. > > > > > > We chose VMware a couple of years ago for several reasons not related > > > to Asterisk. Since then I've heard good things about other platforms > > > like VirtualBox and Xen but I have no first hand experience with them. > > > > > > Good luck with your project, > > > > > > Dave > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > > > > > > > > > > -- Toronto based VoIP / Asterisk Trainer, I.T. Consultant and Hosted PBX Solutions Provider. +1-647-476-2067. http://www.linkedin.com/in/seminar
